Parsi Khabar is now on Facebook.

Facebook is probably the fastest growing social networking site. If you havent checked it out, now is the time to do so. And while you are at it, please join the Parsi Khabar Group on Facebook.

We would also request you to participate in the discussion on ways to make Parsi Khabar better and more meaningful. Any and all criticism, suggestion, advices boquets and brickbats are welcome. You could also do the same in the comments section here.

Shirrin, Mehernaaz and Arzan, the three contributors at Parsi Khabar wish all our readers a very happy, healthy, prosperous, peaceful and safe New year 2008.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our readers for their continued support during 2007. We hope to bring new thoughts, ideas and articles in the coming year and look forward to more interaction, comments and suggestions.

Parsi Khabar is proud to say that one of our very own authors, Mehernaaz Sam Wadia shall be in attendance at the 4th World Zoroastrian Youth Congress. She forms part of a large bunch of youth from Bombay who shall be present at the Congress.

Mehernaaz is a practising lawyer in Mumbai, India. When not fighting legal battles for her clients in the courts of law, Mehernaaz is involved in the Girl Guiding movement. She participates in public forums on matters concerning the Parsi community and expresses strong opinion on the state of our community today.

Mehernaaz has promised to send updates, photographs and tidbits from the conference, internet accessibility permitting.

So stay tuned for the same.

If you are attending the Congress and would like to meet up with Mehernaaz, leave your details in the comments section below.

Technorati tags: 4th WZYC, World Zoroastrian Youth Congress, Ballarat, Australia, Zoroastrian

!! Saal Mubarak !!

August 20th is the first day of the Parsi New Year. A time of happiness and rejoicing for all members of the small Parsi community, of which Shirrin and I are a part.

This is one of my favorite days of the years. Memories of this day right through childhood included visits to the fire temple, wearing “new” clothes, receiving monetary gifts from grandparents, eating great food and going to parsi plays or “nataks” in the evening and to dinner thereafter.

Living in a Parsi colony meant that everyone did the same and it was a “jalsa”. It was one day where you would see the whole Parsi community out in full force, in every theater or playhouse in town. Every restaurant would have entire families of Parsis chattering away, drinking, eating, and greeting all and sundry around even if they did not know them.

It did not matter that there would be rain or shine, we would be out in force.

Over the last few years, being in NYC, away from family, on this particular day, sucks. There is something beautiful and inherent in celebrating festivals with family, that can never be substituted. There is a Zoroastrian Association here in NYC and they do hold a function in the evening, but its not the same.

On this occasion of the New Year we wish all our readers a very Happy New Year….one filled with peace, prosperity, harmony and love.

Two years ago today, the first post went up on Parsi Khabar. And since then it has been an interesting ride for all of us here at Parsi Khabar.

605 posts over two years averages to just under one a day. We are thankful to all out regular readers and subscribers. A lot of you have commented on the posts and we love to have you all come back over and over again and read what we post.

We are looking to your continued support in the years to come and request you to pass on our link to others you think would like the website.

We also welcome suggestions, criticism and advice to make the site better, more meaningful as it matures and grows.

So on New Year’s eve, we stop for a moment and look at the last two years and the ones to come ahead.

Enjoy the ride…

On the occasion of Navroze, we wish all our readers worldwide, a very happy, healthy and prosperous Jamshedi Navroze. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our readers for their loyal readership.

We are very happy to inform you that Parsi Khabar has been nominated in the “Best Topical Blog” for the Indibloggies Award.

The Indibloggies are the Filmfare Awards of the blogging world. If you read Parsi Khabar, and like what you read, we urge you to please go and vote for us.

Click on the button on the left. This will take you to the polling page. You will need to enter an email address and they will email the voting link to you.

There are a lot of categories, but if you don’t have the time to go through them, just scroll down to the Topical Blogs category and click on Parsi Khabar and then continue to the end and submit your decision.

Your vote will go a long way in establishing Parsi Khabar as a mainstream Parsi Blog.

Show “Parsi Power!!”. Vote, and thanks.

On behalf of all of us at Parsi Khabar we wish our dear readers a very happy new year 2007.

The last year has seen parsi Khabar grow from one blogger to three. All three of us endeavor to bring you more news, articles, opinions and trivia about all things Parsi.

If you ennjoy reading this blog, please pass our link around to friends and family. The more the merrier. If you agree or disagree with what we publish, we welcome your comments in the comments section.

And if you would like to contribute content for the blog, do let us know.

We have just updated our About Us Page. Do check it out here.

With love and regards

The Parsi Khabar Team

Today is the Parsi New Year. The first day of the parsi calendar.

Parsi new year brings with it the hopes for a new, happy healthy and prosperous new year. A year where hopefully there shall be more good news than negative criticism.

The past year has been a tumultuous one for the entire community. Polarisation is the name of the game. No side is completely right in what they stand for. The only thing that they both agree on is that the other is completely wrong !

Priests get dragged into controversies and are asked to play God on issues that have come about over hundreds of years.

Amidst all this there is always a glitter of hope. Many individual Parsis have risen to excellenece in their personal and professional lives. They set the standards for other Parsis, and fellow citizens to follow.

Parsi Khabar has had a great year bringing articles and news events to you. We try to take as unbiased a stand as possible. And we let you be the judge. To all our loyal readers and subscribers, we thank you for your support. We hope to double our readership in the coming year and also add new features to the blog. Suggestions, criticism et al are as always, expected and appreciated.

The following is an excerpt from a blogpost I wrote exactly a year ago….describing Parsi New Year and what it means to me

This is one of my favorite days of the years. Memories of this day right through childhood included visits to the fire temple, wearing “new” clothes, receiving monetary gfts from grandparents, eating great food and going to parsi plays or “nataks” in the evening and to dinner thereafter.

Living in a Parsi colony meant that everyone did the same and it was a “jalsa”. It was one day where you would see the whole Parsi community out in full force, in every theater or playhouse in town. Every restaurant would have whole families of Parsis chattering away, drinking, eating, and greeting all and sundry around even if they did not know them.

You can read the entire post here.

So here is wishing all our readers a Navu Saal Mubarak.